Week Twenty-Three, Day One
Regrouping at their headquarters the
team visits their Harrows headquarters now that they have the item from Lybrida to assist in their search. While to they not find any spying agents they
get a better look at the strange trails running through the place. They appear to be just that, trails left by
the passage of something that leaves a stain on the ethereal as it moves, a
thing that is at the moment unmoving somewhere in that cocoon-like bundle in
the basement floor. While it looks like
it has moves recently, Jeffery checks a film of light powder he left on the
stairs to detect footprints while they were out. No foot prints are found so whatever it is
appears to have no physical substance or the ability to float.
No message has yet come in for them
at headquarters for their departure so they turn in for the day, and Grey Eyes
returns her rental.
Week Twenty-Three, Day Two
Grouping back up at headquarters
they find no message waiting for them again.
Wanting to kill some time they get a little practice in at the shooting
range trying to outdo each other.
Krystal interrupts the competition by running in exclaiming that their
orders have come in and the portal to Syril has appeared as expected. Just as every year prior the portal has
already been set up with guards to prevent passage though the portal in either
direction and so they ready up for their assault.
They approach the portal area from
behind buildings and upon the rooftops of the downs. They easily spot the small but serviceable
contingent placed there to keep watch on the offending gate and come up with a
small plan to get past. Using a
combination of smoke grenades and speed they strike a few moments confusion
into the guardians and rush past into the waiting portal. They jump to the other side of the world in
an instant, smoke billowing out of the portal as they cross and find a very
different world than they are used too.
Taking a few moments to get their
bearings they find the place they ended up to be exceedingly lush. The grass is thick beneath their feet,
orchards and crops are prominent in the distance while the air is clean enough
to see the mountain framing the landscape and the stars beyond. In the distance at the base of the mountain
nearby is seen Syril, the place they have come to investigate. Directly in front of them stands a very
surprised girl who holds an armload of paper to her chest.
It turns out this girl was set here
to act as a receptionist for Syril for anyone coming through the portal. She apologizes for being so startled but
explains that no one has come though the Esspis portal in ages and expected to
be watching over an inactive gate. She
composes herself quickly enough and hands out pamphlets that introduce Syril
and explain the ways and laws of its people in a condensed form for
visitors. She thanks them all for taking
the effort to visit and partake in their most loved festival. As they wave and start to leave a strange
nagging feeling overcomes them, as if the air had teeth and was about to bite
them. The receptionist laughs and appoligizes again, saying that feeling is always present
and while one never gets used to it one learns to ignore it. She assures them it is not harmful and mostly
just an irritation but if they wish to find relief they can find bath salts
that banish the sensations for sale in most market areas.
They taker her advice on lodgings and get rooms for the week
at The Dragons Eyes Inn which boasts an unlimited number of rooms produced
mystically for each visitor. Each rental
is accessed and attuned by drinking a “key in a bottle” that permits that
individual to enter their designated room by stepping though a merging
point. As each member of the group
drinks the same key they all end up in the same suit which sports enough rooms
to house them easily with a few left over.
Eager to get aquatinted with the
city they leave after dropping off their bags and hit the streets. They quickly discover that the streets are
slowly filling up with visitors as it becomes very easy to tell visitor from
native. The native style of dress is an
affront to the eyes; mismatched and brightly colored clothing gives the
impression that these people just climbed out of a drier. It turns out that Zeen, Syril’s
guardian has a fondness for bright colors and the dress style is for Zeen’s benefit and amusement.
Wanting to at least look like they
are interesting in playing along with the festival they pick up such clothing
themselves and at least consider wearing them later. While browsing Grey Eyes spots something that
gives her reason to laugh. Among the
other goods she has discovered ladies underwear sporting a strange brand name
and theme. The brand is Zeen-O Wear,
which makes an obviously thinly veiled jab at the commonly held hate for xeno’s while also incorporating their most beloved xeno, Zeen. Upon the
underwear are small, cartoony and rather cute
depictions of dragons; smiling with eyes pinched shut, blowing bubbles, in
mid-flight, etc. They sell for six
sticks for a bag and are of impressive quality, and while likely aimed as an
export they would likely be considered contraband in Esspis.
At their wits end already with the
strange hostile feeling from the air they stop in at a pharmacy to find some of
those salts they were told about. Not
only do they find the salt they are looking for in a variety of colors and
quality they find the pharmacy openly sells herbs over the counter that would
also be contraband in Esspis and for good reason. While the merchant assures them the plants
sold here are of only mild strength the ones found far exceed anything
permitted and Krystal is openly distraught by this relaxed attitude to illegal
material. Seeing as they are not in
Esspis and thus none of this is technically illegal the group starts making
selections and purchases. While the
groups is tempted with a “special stock” of what seems to be empty tinted
bottles (which they buy for 5 wafers each) Kikah
discovers they carry a white vine with blue veins that was grown back where she
lived. Seeing that she is very
interested Jeffery buys a supply of leaves before going. It turns out the leaves are about as
“medicinal” as most of the other herbs they were looking over thus giving a
little evidence that Kikah’s people might have been
hopped up on “something or other” most of the time as they eat it like salad.
They return to their room to try out
their salts and also notice that while in their rooms the strange feeling is
absent. Grey Eyes takes this moment to
tell Dlar about Syril and say it would likely be find
if it showed up for the festival.
Moments later Dlar rips its way out of its
lair and into the sewers, intent on flying to Syril, taking Lilly who is still
in its tummy with it. Settling into a
bath with Krystal, Grey Eyes shares some of the bottles she bought with
Krystal. They both are stuck with a
laughing fit which ends abruptly with Krystal turning to Grey Eyes and asking “What are you doin’ down
there?” It turns out they are both
floating above their bodies which are still in the bath. Grey Eyes figures out that their spirits have
become disconnected from their bodies somehow and are mostly free to drift
about. Neither of them seems to figure
out how to change their current orientation but hardly seem to care as they
drift about at will. They end up in the
kitchen, where Krystal checks out what is in the fridge by putting her head
through the cooler door. It is not to
long after that the effect ends with them waking up back in the bath where Grey
Eyes takes note on the capacity for spying this strange drug has.
Week Twenty-Three, Day Three
After they get up and ready
themselves for their first full day in a city completely foreign to their own
Grey Eyes and Krystal get into an argument.
The rest of the group gets in on it as it is a debate about laws and
lawfulness. Krystal is unmoving on her
opinion that Syril is a bad place as they freely promote the use of materials
found to be of no practical use and of detriment to public health. Grey Eyes points out that even though that
might be true Syril has been healthy and happy enough to last thousands of
years without collapsing as it should have is their ways were so terrible. The argument really goes nowhere and the issue
is dropped eventually in favor of doing the job they were sent to do.
At about this time Dlar has finally arrived and makes a splash landing in
Their first stop is the only public
library in Syril which they find is not so well funded, stocked or attended as
they would have liked. They manage to
find a bit about Syril’s history and ways in greater
detail and a few general maps. They find
a circular area blotted out on every map as “the Desolate” from
three-hundred-twelve years ago and ever since.
Noting a place known as Zeen’s Rock as the
spot where Zeen will make a week long appearance they decide to head there and see him for themselves.
They find Zeen at the expected place
lying quietly while visitors and natives alike go about their business around
him. Kikah and
Krystal want no part of this and hang back by the buildings that ring Zeen’s Rock. The
rest that go up to have a look are warmly greeted and thanked for coming to
share in the celebration of Syril’s founding which
also acts as a breathday party for Zeen. Zeen encourages them to look around, try the
food and drink when the festival begins and generally enjoy what Syril has to
offer while they are here. They ask if
they can touch him and Zeen agrees, but asks that they do not let any young
ones do so as they tend to try and pull his scales free thinking they are
candy. They give Zeen’s
skull a rub before returning to the group, making a note to try some of this
dragon scale candy hinted at.
From the maps they remember that
something called Sath’s Garden is nearby Zeen’s Rock and it sounds like a place Krysal
might like. Once they get there they
find that it is only open to females, so Jeffery and Markus have to wait
outside. While the library was almost a
joke the garden appears very well maintained and stocked with local and exotic
varieties of flowers, trees and vines.
Central to the garden is a statue of Zeen crafted from a single large
piece of pink crystal. Beneath the
statue grows a large bed of flowers Krystal has never seen before. The petals seem colorless and translucent but
as they mature they become pink enough to match the statue above them. Krystal badly wishes a sample of the flower
or a seed to take home but taking from the displays is not permitted.
After a look around they wander
about Syril and watch as the celebration starts to warm up. While taking note of the location of candy
shops Grey Eyes has a closer look at one of Syril’s
own sort of enforcer called a Vor’arda. While they appear to be males in mithril
full-plate with sword and crossbow a look on the ethereal shows the armor to be
grey. To its surface rise and vanish
faces, claws and teeth of some number of entities that appear to be trapped in
the armor. Grey Eyes identifies them as
some form of negatively charged ghosts but more than that she cannot tell. She decides she really does not want much to
do with the armor and tries to settle down.
Jeffery and Lilly want to return to
Esspis for a short time. Using invisibly
they cross back over and agree to meet up later. Lilly checks up on the cult and finds them
slacking still. She leaves them with a
warning to get back in line and serve or she will take out her frustrations out
of them upon her return. Impressed with
the size, color and juiciness of the Syrillian
produce, Jeffery takes a bag of it to O’Laura in an
attempt to convince her subtly of Syril’s worth of a
place that should be at the very least conquer rather than just destroyed. She is not nearly as impressed as he is and
states that after looking over this out-of-town contraband she will see to it
that it is disposed of properly.
More or less happy with their first
day they rest up for tomorrow and perhaps a trip to this anomaly the Desolate.
Week Twenty-Three, Day Four
The Syrillian
Festival officially starts today and everyone is intrigued enough by the city
to want to see it all. They leave the
inn to find the streets filled with visitors which now outnumber the natives. They push their was
as best they can through the growing throng to see Zeen again. On the way the ladies of the group are
offered drinks, specialty dishes and candies all of which are free during the
festival. Purveyors give out large and
quality samples perhaps in hopes of pleasing not only a visitor but earning
return visits once the festival ends.
They are well introduced to the annual festival candies: Dragon Scales
(pink, glossy soap candies), Dracolicks (a length of
pink licorice with an odd shape), Bubble Puff (a sweet blue gum), Hatchlings
(small pink gummy dragon-like candies) and BluChew
(simple blue color chewy candy with a smooth texture).
Once back at Zeen’s
Rock Lilly and Grey Eyes join in the dancing that is taking place around
Zeen. The two of them move up close to Zeen’s head and stay there for a peculiar amount of
time. It turns out they plan to get
licked by Zeen on purpose by staying nearby and very available. They are patient and eventually it pays
off. Each of them is licked by Zeen and
as is tradition everyone in sight yells and drinks whatever they are
holding. This spreads down the streets,
everyone yelling and drinking until the wave has moved from one end of Syril to
the other.
They do in fact find a new gate near
the others that stands apart. While the
other gates are little more than a two-sided disk the most recent one is a
glimmering, jewel-encrusted frame that seems to be more for appearances than
functionality. Near the new gate are a
number of individuals of various species in some sort of uniform. A few quick questions later they discover the
gate was opened from Trenzani
Further searching locates Koo easily enough as much like Causwa
and Keenya,
she towers over the majority of the visitors.
Standing beside Koo and almost unnoticed due
to his three-foot stature is Horris Ozark, a rabbit
much like themselves but smaller than themselves even when full grown. Horris does not
seem to think very highly of them but Koo is happy
enough after a little talk to sponsor them to the academy. With forms in hand they find the only catch
is that they have to make their way to Zemoch on
their own power in order to be eligible.
With the gates open they decide that a visit is in order at least so
they can have a look around first.
Impressed with the hallways alone they find their way to the school
store. For sale are found many basic
scrolls and a selection of wands and gloves.
They make a few purchases of these available goods before returning to
Syril.
While Grey Eyes and the rest go hang
out with the rest of the party goers Lilly decides to indulge her curiosity and
try to question one of the Vor’arda. They are willing enough to answer any
non-sensitive questions and Lilly finds the conversation informative. From her chosen Vor’arda,
who goes by the name of Renaldo, Lilly learns a startling amount about them and
their job. The Vor’arda
are members of Syril’s male
population that have volunteered to become the enforcement and military of
Syril. They are trained in a place
called Ashard, another city of sorts I the same
mountain range as Syril but populated by zelengorsk attracted to the region by
that strange feeling the air has here.
In Ashard they are trained to fight both the
physical and spiritual, those that survive are very often still scarred by the
life rending attacks of their instructors such that they have withered skin and
patches of white, brittle fur where they were touched. Those that pass the ordeals are given a suit
of mithril full-plate into which are forged hostile ghosts that were deemed
disruptive to Ashard as both a form of imprisonment
and a tool for the newly trained Vor’arda. It is due to this fusion that the attacks of
the Vor’arda are fully capable of ripping the life
from their opponents while being shielded from the same form of attack. She also learns there are about 1,150
standing members of the Vor’arda distributed between
fifteen barracks throughout Syril, each of which can hold up to one-hundred Vor’arda.
Finally leaving Renaldo once he
retires to bed she rejoins the group and engages in the festivities. Very much enjoying the succulent produce,
clean air and liberal attitude of Syril they do not waste another chance to
extol the virtues of Syril to Krystal a little more. Krystal only goes as far as to admit that the
cleanliness of Syril as compared to Esspis is appealing but the people are
misguided and need guidance. Not letting
the disagreement ruin their fun they continue to party until they can’t stay
awake and return to the inn.
Week Twenty-Three, Day Five
With some solid information about
the Syrillian military they decide to try and get
something about the council for their report.
A quick trip down to the council grounds nets them some good photograph
opportunities of the buildings and layout.
Among the other visitors taking pictures they are not making themselves
stand out while doing so by at least making some effort to make it look as if
they are just collecting normal vacation photographs. Later trying but being largely unsuccessful
in attempts to speak to a member of the council during this busy time of year
they discuss amongst themselves where to go next. As they debate they pick up on yet more news. There is something going on at the beach
where the Trenzani instructors have set up that
“thing”.
While trying to make their way down
to the beach they notice a group of Vor’arda watching
them. It is only a few moments later
that they are asked to come with them for questioning. The questioning turns out to be more of a
body search with each member being taken into a separate room and checked down
to their underwear; the only one not checked is Lilly. Everyone but Grey Eyes and Lilly are left in
the room they are searched for a time with one guard. Grey Eyes and Lilly are lead together to a
room at the other end of the facility and asked to take seats before a
desk. Soon after their arrival an
individual enters and makes her way to sit behind the desk. From the look of her she has the “assets” to be
posing for calendars for Kannon. She wears a headpiece sporting two
three-pointed starburst overlapping each other’s center with a pink gem as the
focus. It turns out that this individual
is Sath and informs them that they have been taken
aside to set down some ground rules. It
has been noted that the two of them have a mark upon their body that declares
them as the property of a zamonudi, but after checking her records Sath is unable to identify their master. It seems no member of Dlar’s
cult has ever come to Syril and so there is no record of the mark. Sath lets them know
that Syril is in no way upset about cultists and in fact Sath
happens to be the greatest cultist in the world by her own admittance. Although no one in Syril has a mark, all citizens
of Syril are considered as marked and no “hunting” within Syril’s
boarders will be tolerated. Once this is
understood Sath asks why there are here, and by being
the first of their cult to arrive Sath declares them
as ambassadors and grants them vouchers for a one week stay at The Dragon Eyes
Inn. As they already have such
arrangements they figure they can keep them for next year. She then suggests they pay Zeen a visit sometime
as ambassadors and encourages them to feel at ease during their stay. They are reunited with their group soon after
and everyone is released.
Making their way to the beach again
and asking around it turns out the display being set up is for fireworks of
some sort. With the Grand Alchemist
himself and one of the legendary thaumatra setting it
up they agree this should prove to be a good show. Finding himself quickly board by the length
of the setup Jeffery suggests going for a swim to Kikah. She agrees easily enough and the two of them
swim out a bit further than most are willing.
Kikah soon learns that Jeffery’s real idea was
to find out what sex underwater is like as he offers her a breathing
crystal. Not finding a bad side to this
idea she accepts the crystal and the pair dive out of sight.
The beach and nearby streets are
packed with interested onlookers as the setup is finally finished. Everyone watches on as the first ones are
launched and burst in the sky. As
expected these are far more than just pretty, short lived lights. From each device launched is born a large
fiery depiction of a dragon which then flaps its wings lazily and floats above
Syril. A number of the devices also
produce strange nebulous collections of bright lights which resemble dragons as
well. The two varieties quietly and
harmlessly drift about Syril not to far above the height of the tallest
buildings.
The group spends the rest of their
day in celebration and watching the new decorations in the sky. Grey Eyes notes that the fiery ones have a
spiritual presence of some sort and are likely fire elementals that have been
harnessed for the show. Just how that
was managed and enabling them to fly is quite beyond her but she watches
happily as anyone anyway.
Week Twenty-Three, Day Six
With information on the running of
Syril Krystal suggests they visit the farms and see how they do things
here. The farmland is found on the
outskirts of Syril in much the same way as is done in Esspis. Examination of the herbs, soil and orchards
show that what grows in Syril is in a better state of health and lush. Many varieties of herbs grown here are not
found around Esspis and likely would not survive the toxic materials that rain
from the sky due to heavy metal smelting.
They take note of methods, crop types and quality before returning to
engage in the party.
Lilly and Grey Eyes return to Zeen’s rock to dance shamelessly for more licks. They are warned by a passing stranger not to
dance to close to Zeen or they might get licked. They quickly discover that they all bear
marks of a zamonudi master and start exchanging notes. The stranger turns out to be named Chloe and
is a member of Kelbic’s cult who is visiting Syril
along with two friends.
Markus has been cultivating a little
relationship with their receptionists to Syril, Deniece. He talks about the possibility of her
visiting Esspis sometime or maybe coming to stay as he feels something bad
might happen to Syril soon. She does not
seem overly concerned and trusts the protection of Zeen and the Vor’arda to keep Syril safe. He leaves her for a bit to pick up some
snacks and drinks to serve as a pick-nick of sorts by the gate.
Having already scouted out the farms
today the group decides to relax until tomorrow and soak up the celebration.